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Nash, Blue Jackets skate past Coyotes

Jan 18, 2008 - 6:29 AM GLENDALE, Arizona (Ticker) -- Rick Nash skated circles around the Phoenix Coyotes - literally.

The All-Star scored two goals - including the game-winner with 22 seconds remaining in the third period - to lift the Columbus Blue Jackets to a 4-3 victory over the Phoenix Coyotes on Thursday.

Just 76 seconds after rookie Martin Hanzal tied the game for the Coyotes, Nash skated into the offensive zone and sized up defensemen Derek Morris and Keith Ballard.

Morris attempted to play the body, but Nash quickly maneuvered around him. The former Maurice Richard Trophy winner then deftly skated around Ballard before deking goaltender Mikael Tellqvist to the ice.

"It seemed like the puck was on a string," Nash said. "I made a couple of dekes and it stayed with me. You try that 100 times and maybe score once."

With a trio of Coyotes in his rear-view mirror, Nash then wristed the puck into a vacant net for 25th goal of the season.

"We were ahead the whole game and probably deserved to win with our attitude the whole game," said defenseman Rostislav Klesla, who scored a second-period goal for his 100th career point. "They tied it up with that late goal, but than Nasher made a great play (that) you only see on PlayStation."

Nash's highlight-reel tally quieted a sparse crowd which watched Hanzal tie the game just moments earlier.

With Nash in the penalty box for high-sticking, the Coyotes pulled Tellqvist for an extra attacker, which turned out to be Hanzal. The 20-year-old gathered a rebound in front of the net and beat screened goaltender Pascal Leclaire to tie the game at 3-3 with 98 seconds remaining.

Luckily for Nash - and the Blue Jackets - he atoned for his miscue with a dazzling effort.

"I took that penalty and felt pretty bad after they scored," Nash said. "Everything worked out well. (Michael) Peca made a nice pass. It was a 1-on-2, so I felt I would try something, and it went in. You never draw up a play like that. You just make the best of a situation."

"For us to tie it up, we were lucky and fortunate," Coyotes coach Wayne Gretzky said. "We made a game of it, tied it 3-3, then gave it back to them. We gave it away."

Nash's first goal leveled the game at 1-1 midway through the second period. This time using Ballard as a screen, Nash reached around the defenseman and slid a shot past Tellqvist from the left faceoff circle.

Nikolai Zherdev also scored for Columbus, which won for just the seventh time on the road this season.

"Both Nash and Zherdev scored world-class goals in the third period to keep us in it," Blue Jackets coach Ken Hitchcock said. "We were on our heels, killing penalties in the third period, hemmed in our own zone a little. We made some poor decisions with the puck and had to kill penalties because of it. But our two best players did what they exactly are supposed to do - they scored big goals for us."

Rookie Peter Mueller and captain Shane Doan tallied for Phoenix.

"That was a phenomenal goal (by Nash), but the difference in that game was, we didn't play the way we played in the third for all 60 minutes," said Doan, who credited his goaltender for keeping the team in the game. "Tellqvist was incredible in the first period. They should have been up on us two or three goals in the first. In the second, we didn't play much better. It is unacceptable."